Driving with Erin
by Laura Louisa Lewis
Summary: In the Season 3 episode, Warriors, while teaching Nicki to drive, Jamie hinted at some of Erin's teenage driving indiscretions: driving fifty in a twenty mile per hour zone, and backing her parent's car into an ex-boyfriend's car… on purpose (and then making her little brother lie about it). This is the story behind those incidents. #5 in the There's a Story Behind That series.
1. Chapter 1 - Driving Lesson

**Chapter 1 – Driving Lesson**

 _A/N: Most dialogue in this chapter is from the Season 3 episode, Warriors._

February 2013

"Meet us out front in ten," Erin read the text from her brother on her cell phone screen again as she packed up a few files to review at home. What was Jamie up to? And who was 'us'? She shrugged into her coat. She'd know in a few minutes.

As she exited the courthouse, she saw Jamie leaning casually against the passenger side of his car. Even out of uniform, he was attracting admiring glances from many of the female employees leaving the building. She walked down the stairs. "Well, this is a nice surprise," she greeted Jamie, then noticed who was behind the wheel. "Wait, you're taking Nicki driving in the city? What are you thinking?"

Jamie held the door open for his sister. "I'm thinking that every driver should have the pleasure of driving over the most beautiful bridge in the world."

Erin took a seat in the back of the car. "I don't know about this. This is just... You sure you know what you're doing?"

Jamie smiled. If only Erin knew that he and Nicki had been driving in the city for hours already… "Yep. And no backseat driving. Especially from you," he warned.

Erin sat back against the seat. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, you forgot about the time when you dented the back of Dad's car by backing into your ex-boyfriend's car?" Jamie asked. "On purpose," he added for Nicki's benefit.

"It was not on purpose."

"And then she made me lie about it. Tell Dad that it was a stray baseball," Jamie told his niece.

"Hey!" Erin protested. Nicki didn't need to hear that story.

"Okay, whenever you're ready, Nicki," Jamie instructed. He turned back to his sister. "And there's the time that you got pulled over for speeding."

"I was only going 50 miles per hour."

Jamie glanced at his sister. " _Only_ 50\. In a 20-mile-an-hour zone."

Nicki giggled. "Mom, I never knew."

Erin glared at her brother. "You know what, Jamie? I have a lot of ammunition on you, so you better watch it," she threatened.

"Turn right at the next intersection, Nik," Jamie told his niece. "And not a word from you, Sis. Nicki's been doing a great job driving so far. You sit back there… and _relax_ … and let your daughter concentrate on driving home over the Brooklyn Bridge."

"Fine." Erin picked up on Jamie's warning. There would be time to tell stories on him later, if it became necessary. Maybe – hopefully – by the time they got home, Nicki would forget to ask for more details of the teenage driving indiscretions Jamie had hinted at.

And for a while, it seemed that hope would be granted. By the time they arrived at the family home in Bay Ridge, Nicki had been so eager to tell her grandfather and great-grandfather about her driving adventures, she'd forgotten about those stories. But then, one Wednesday afternoon several years later, only hours before the Reagan family planned to gather for a special dinner, Erin got caught speeding again, this time by a young patrol officer named Edit Janko.

* * *

 _Next: Before we get to those incidents, a story of seat belts and little brothers.  
_


	2. Chapter 2 - No Seatbelts Required

**Chapter 2 – No Seatbelts Required**

 _Author's Note: This chapter references events which took place in my story, Boxes. But it should make sense even if you haven't read that one yet. :D_

==BB==BB==

"I don't know, Reagan. You sure I can't just drop you off and come back later to pick you up?" Eddie Janko asked her boyfriend of several weeks as she looked up at his imposing family home.

"Nope," Jamie replied. He waited by the side of the car until Eddie made her way around to his side, then wrapped an arm around her waist. "Come on. It's not like it's Sunday dinner; it's just a casual pizza night to celebrate me going back to work." Today had been his first shift back at the 12th after time off to recover from the injuries Walter Barton had inflicted on him. Desk duty, but it was still an improvement over spending the day lying around his apartment or at the hospital rehabbing his injured leg. "In a way, you're here as my partner, not my girlfriend."

"Former partner. Remember, acting Sergeant Reagan?"

"I remember." Jamie leaned over to quickly kiss Eddie. "Although, I kind of wish I been there with you today for that one traffic stop."

Eddie pulled away slightly to look at her boyfriend. "Oh, great. Do you think that's going to come up tonight?"

Jamie smirked. "'course it is. I'm going to bring it up, if no one else does. It's not every day that Erin gets called on her bad driving."

As they approached the front door, Frank pulled it open. "Jamie, Eddie, welcome."

"Hi, Dad." Jamie maneuvered himself through the doorway.

"Hello, Comm… er, Mr. Reagan," Eddie stumbled over the informal address for her boss as the three headed for the dining room, where the rest of the family was gathered.

"Jamie! Imitating your grandfather, are you?" Henry asked as they entered the room, with a gesture toward the cane Jamie was using.

"Yeah. The rehab doc swapped out the crutches for this thing yesterday," Jamie replied. "Should be for this week only. Then I get to ditch it."

"Hey, kid. Hello, Eddie," Danny Reagan greeted the new arrivals as he strode in from the kitchen, carrying a beer.

"Hello, Detective…"

"Hey, it's Danny here," he interrupted. "And look who else is here. Erin!" he called as his sister made her way dining room, carrying several pizzas. "Although, Eddie, I heard you and my sister already met once today."

"Oh, we don't need to bring that up," Eddie quickly cut in.

Danny smirked. "Oh, yes we do. Someone finally busted the speed demon."

"Like you can talk," Erin protested. "You break the rules more than I do."

"Yeah, but my car has official police lights. I'm allowed to break the rules."

"On that subject of breaking rules…" Frank saw an opportunity to explore a statement a semi-conscious Jamie had made at the hospital several weeks earlier. "Erin, what was your mother's and my rule about seat belts?"

Erin put down the pizzas. "No driving until all passengers are buckled in," she recited.

"Then why did you tell your brother he didn't need a seat belt if he was seated between Danny and Joe?"

"Dad, I wouldn't have done that. I knew your rule," Erin protested. "And when did I tell Jamie this?"

"Oh, Jamie ratted you out to Dad, when he first got to the hospital last month." Danny tried to hide a laugh.

Erin turned to her younger brother. "Jamie?"

"Don't look at me," Jamie protested. "I don't remember much of anything from those first couple of hours."

"Well, I don't remember ever telling Jamie that. I knew the rule. No driving if all passengers aren't wearing seat belts," Erin repeated.

"Actually, Erin, there was that one time," Jamie recalled an event from his childhood. "But you weren't driving…"

"Pete was," Erin exclaimed as she also recalled that incident. "How did you remember that? I'd almost forgotten."

"Because that kid has all kinds of stories tucked away in his subconscious, waiting to pop out and make trouble for us," Danny joked. "Although, I think the statute of limitations may have run on that particular incident. You're probably safe from parental punishment."

"Only the State of New York can suspend your driving privileges now," Frank remarked.

"Never mind that, I want to hear why little Jamie didn't need a seat belt," Henry added.

"Hey!" Jamie protested. "Not little. But Erin, go ahead and tell them."

"Okay. It was this miserable day in November. Danny's car was broken, and Mom had blown out a tire on her car…."

==BB==BB==

"Mom! Why did you have to get a flat tire today? How are we supposed to get home from school?" Erin Reagan all but whined to her mother through the telephone in the main office of St. Brendan's Catholic School. It was bad enough that she'd had to be given a ride to school today from her father, but now she was going to have to take the bus home? How harsh!

"Honey, I didn't plan to get a flat tire, and certainly not on the same day as your brother's car broke down." Mary tried to keep the frustration out of her voice. Did Erin really think she'd blown out a tire on purpose, just so she could spend all afternoon at the auto repair shop getting it replaced? "Maybe you could catch the bus?"

"But the weather sucks today. It's so cold and dumping down rain, too," Erin complained. And riding the bus would destroy her social status. Only little kids and dorks without boyfriends or other friends rode the bus.

"I know that, honey," Mary explained as she wiped some of that rain off her forehead.

"Fine. I'll figure it out," Erin moped. "We'll see you later. Maybe." She hung up the phone, then sighed and turned around to leave the office. She nearly ran into a boy standing close behind her. Pete Farraday. She'd been trying to find an opportunity to talk to the handsome senior for weeks, and now here he was! "Oh! Hi, Pete. What are you doing here?"

"Hey, Erin." Pete looked her up and down. "Gotta go see the principal about something. Sounds like you're stuck at school today."

"Yeah, my Mom wrecked a tire on her car and my brother's car is broken. Besides, he's staying after school for basketball practice. I don't know how I'm going to get my little brother and myself home without getting soaked." Erin smiled coyly at Pete as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I'd give you and the kid a ride," Pete offered. "But my parents have this lame rule. I can't drive places with my friends. They think I'm going to wreck the car or something. Their only exception is that I can drive my girlfriend places, if I have one."

Erin moved a step closer to Pete. "I'm not seeing anyone right now."

Pete ran his hand down Erin's arm and took her hand in his. "Neither am I. You want to be my girl?"

"Sure!" Erin nearly giggled. Maybe her mother's flat tire would work out okay after all!

==BB==BB==

"I call shotgun!" Jamie Reagan yelled as he ran toward Pete Farraday's car a few hours later.

Danny ran after his brother and grabbed the back of his backpack, bringing the smaller boy to an abrupt halt. "No you don't. Kindergarteners don't get the front seat."

"Not fair," Jamie whined. He _never_ got to sit in front. He always got stuck in the back, just because he was ten years younger than Danny, and eight years younger than Erin, and almost six years younger than Joe. "And I'm _not_ in kindergarten. I'm in second grade."

"Whatever, shrimp," Danny retorted.

"And you don't get the front either, Danny," Erin argued. "Pete is _my_ boyfriend. I get to sit by him."

"No way, Sis. I'm not sitting in the back with the little kids."

"Hey, I'm not little," Joe protested. "And what's wrong with us, anyway?"

"Nothing's wrong with you, Joe. And Danny, you are too going to sit in the back seat with them. Pete's only going to drive us home if I sit up front with him. So you can sit back there, or you can walk." Erin pushed Danny away from the front passenger door of Pete's 1982 Pontiac Grand Am, quickly opened the door and sat down. Pete was already annoyed about Danny and Joe being along for this trip, since he'd only volunteered to drive her and Jamie home. But then all sports practices had been cancelled due to the steadily-worsening weather, so the older boys had also needed a ride home.

"Whatever," Danny groused, but he joined his brothers in the back seat of the car. "Scoot over, squirt," he told his baby brother.

"But Danny, there's no seat belt in the middle. I need a seat belt." Jamie braced his feet against the back of the front seat in an effort to keep his position in the seat behind Erin.

Danny bumped Jamie into the center seat with his hip. "Too bad."

"Danny, he's right. There's no belt for the middle seat," Joe told his brother. "You should switch places with him."

"Hell no," Danny muttered. "It's bad enough being back here. I'm not sitting in the middle."

Pete started up the engine and shifted into reverse. It was a good thing Erin was as hot as she was. He wouldn't put up with a bunch of bratty siblings otherwise.

Jamie gasped as he felt the car moving. He wasn't supposed to ride in cars without his seat belt! "Erin! I don't have a seat belt! We can't go yet!" he frantically told his sister. "Erin!"

"Geez, Jamie! You're fine. You don't need a seat belt; you're sitting in between Joe and Danny. They'll keep you safe. And it's not that far, and Pete will drive carefully, right?"

"Sure thing, babe." Pete stepped on the accelerator hard, jerking the car forward and sending Jamie backward against the seat with a yelp. That would show that little brat.

"Hey, don't do that!" Joe protested as Erin, Danny and Pete laughed at Jamie's reaction. Joe quickly decided that he didn't like Erin's latest boyfriend.

"Lighten up, kid. It was a joke."

"Well it wasn't very funny." Joe tucked Jamie closer against him, then thought of something. Danny didn't pay any heed to Mom's and Dad's rules if they weren't around. He glanced at his older brother. Sure enough, Danny hadn't buckled his seat belt. Joe undid his, stretched it across Jamie, and then buckled it into the latch for Danny's seat belt. "There. It's not an official seat belt, but it'll do, right Jame?"

"I guess so," Jamie muttered.

"Yeah. And besides, like Erin said, you have me and Danny…" Joe glanced at his older brother, who already had his headphones on and had apparently tuned out the rest of the world. "Well, you have me to keep you safe. So, what happened in second grade today?"

Jamie brightened up. "I got a 102 on my spelling quiz, because I could spell octopus and no one else could. O-C-T-O-P-U-S. See?"

"Little dork," Pete muttered from the front seat.

"Hey!" Danny leaned forward to smack Pete in the shoulder. "Shut up, you blockhead. You don't get to put down my kid brother just because he's smarter than you." What the hell did his sister see in this guy? He dropped his hand to Jamie's shoulder. "Guy couldn't spell dog if they gave him the letters," he whispered to Jamie and Joe, causing both younger boys to laugh.

In the front seat, Erin scooted closer to Pete. "Ignore my brothers. They're idiots," she told his quietly as she kissed the side of his face.

"Ew! Pete's gonna get cooties!" Jamie told his brothers.

Joe snickered. "Hey, Jamie, can you spell 'cooties'?" he asked his little brother.

"C-O-O-…" Jamie began.

"Jamie! Joseph!" Erin turned around and nearly yelled at her brothers. "Stop it!"

* * *

 _Tomorrow: Driving 50 in a 20 zone..._


	3. Chapter 3 - 50 in a 20 Zone

**Chapter 3 – 50 in a 20 Zone**

 _A/N: Thanks for the reviews!_

* * *

"Is it any wonder Pete broke up with me a few months later?" Erin glared at her brothers.

"He was a blockhead, Sis. You could've done better," Danny informed his sister. "That guy was nothing but trouble."

"He was." Jamie leaned over toward Eddie. "He was the reason Erin got a speeding back then. She tries to blame it on me, but it comes back to Pete."

"Jamie, the ticket was your fault."

"Was not. You were the one driving."

"You were the one with the big mouth," Erin insisted. "Eddie, your boyfriend told the officer to give me a ticket."

Eddie looked from Erin to Jamie. "So, bossing around police officers is something you've been doing since you were little?" Eddie teased. "It's not just your new job, Acting Sergeant?"

"No! Geez, it wasn't like that. I didn't tell Officer Norris to write the ticket," Jamie protested. "Erin, tell Eddie what happened. You'll see."

"Fine. But it will just prove that I'm right. It was a few months later…"

==BB==BB==

"Baby, don't you want to watch my baseball practice?" Pete Farraday asked his girlfriend.

Erin sighed and leaned back against the locker next to Pete's. "Of course I want to, but I have to drive Jamie to the library first. He has to pick out a book to read for his class. Just one, so it shouldn't take very long. I'll take care of that, drop him off at home, and come back." Sometimes, like today, having her driver's license sucked. If she'd know she was going to become the family taxi driver, she wouldn't have been in such a hurry to get licensed. But at least she only had to deal with one passenger today, since both Danny and Joe were busy with their own sports practices this afternoon.

Pete slammed his locker shut. "Don't bother. We'll be done by then."

Erin snuggled up next to Pete and pulled his arm around her back. "Well, then call me when you're finished. I'll meet you somewhere."

"Fine." Pete ran his hand up and down his girlfriend's side as they walked toward the gym. "But you'd better be home when I call. I don't know where I'll be calling from, and I'm too busy to keep trying."

"I'll be there, don't worry," Erin tilted her face up to kiss Pete before heading to the study hall to retrieve her little brother, then out to the family car. She quickly settled Jamie in his seat before starting up the car for the short drive to the library. "So, Jamie, do you know what the book you're looking for is about?" Maybe she could make this trip even faster, if she could help her brother choose the subject of the book before they got to the library.

"Don't know," Jamie replied. "It has to be good, because I have to tell my class everything I learned from it." He thought for a moment. "Fire trucks."

Erin glanced at her brother. Where had that come from? "Okay. We can go right to…"

"Or bulldozers and construction stuff," Jamie interrupted. "Or big boats, or …"

Erin sighed. Maybe this wasn't going to be as quick as she thought.

"…whales. Or dinosaurs, but _everyone_ will be doing that, so maybe not dinosaurs," Jamie decided. "Lions. Except my friend Leo said he might do lions, because he's named for them or something."

"What about giraffes?"

"No, not giraffes. Danny makes up stories 'bout giraffes." Jamie dismissed his sister's suggestion. "Airplanes. Or helicopters. Or rockets."

Erin pulled the car into a parking place beside the library. "Rockets are good. Come on, let's get going." She quickly led her brother into the library and over to the children's non-fiction section. Which is where the two Reagans spent the next forty-five minutes, as Jamie moved through the shelves of books, choosing multiple ones to consider. Erin glanced at her watch again. "Jamie, we've got to go. Choose your favorite two of those ones and you can decide later which one to read for your class."

Jamie glanced at the stack of books in his arms and pulled one out. "This one, about skyscrapers." He handed it to Erin. "And this one." He handed a second book about volcanos to his sister. "No, wait. This one." He took back the volcano book and replaced it with one about the solar system, then reluctantly placed the rest of the stack of books on a table. "Why are you in such a big huge hurry?"

"Because I am," Erin almost snapped. She pulled her little brother to the checkout desk. Finally, they were leaving! She handed her library card to the librarian and glanced at her watch. Shoot! She barely had time to drive home before Pete called! "Jamie, we have to go. Now."

"Okay. Bye, Mrs. Pearl," Jamie waved good-bye as Erin pulled him toward the door. It wasn't until Erin had him belted into the front seat that he realized something. "Erin, I only have one of my books!" He unbuckled the seat belt and jumped out of the car before Erin could stop him.

"Damn it, Jamie!" Erin glanced at the car's clock. Pete's baseball practice ended five minutes ago, and he'd be calling her any time. She needed to get home right away. She drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, counting the seconds. Damn that kid!

The second Jamie popped back into the car, Erin slammed the car into reverse, then quickly accelerated out of the parking lot and onto the street. She glanced at the clock again. "Great. Pete's going to call before we get home," she muttered. She couldn't miss Pete's call. She just couldn't! He'd think she wasn't interested in him and find a new girlfriend. And the senior prom was coming up. All the unattached seniors were quickly pairing off; if Pete got pissed and dumped her too close to the dance, all the guys she would want to date would already be taken. She had to keep their relationship going at least until then, especially since she'd been bragging to all her friends that she had a date all lined up for the dance. She reflexively stepped on the accelerator harder, causing the car to speed up.

"Erin, aren't you going kind of fast?" Jamie asked a minute later.

"No, we're fine. Shut up."

Jamie looked out the window at the police car they were zipping past so fast it was little more than a blur of blue and white. He'd planned to tell Erin about it, but if she wanted him to shut up, that's what he'd do. Seconds later, the policeman sounded his siren and turned on the flashing blue lights.

"Oh, dammit. Not now," Erin whined as she pulled over to the curb. She looked at the clock and watched another minute tick by. This was _so_ not fair! "Jamie, why didn't you tell me about the cop car?"

Jamie shrugged. "You told me to shut up."

Erin gripped the steering wheel tighter. Why did her little brother have to be so freaking literal? He should have realized she'd want to know about the police car!

"Hello, miss. License and registration, please," the officer requested.

Erin fished around her purse and the glove box for the documents and handed them out the window.

The officer glanced at the papers and then looked at her. "Miss, do you have any idea how fast you were going?"

Erin shook her head. "No, sir."

"Fifty. In a twenty zone."

Jamie tried to do the math in his head, but ended up drawing the numbers in the air with his finger. "Erin, that's thirty over the speed limit!" he finally exclaimed. "You were more over the speed limit than the speed limit is!"

"Smart little guy, isn't he?" the officer chuckled. "Miss Reagan, where were you going in such a hurry?"

"Home," Erin replied. "My little brother needs to get home in time for dinner, so he can get to bed on time. He has a big day at school tomorrow."

Jamie frowned. Erin was making him sound like a little baby. And that also wasn't what Erin had said a few minutes ago. "Erin, you said you needed to get home in a hurry because you don't want to miss your dumb boyfriend calling."

"Stuff it!" Erin hissed at her brother. She glanced up at the cop. From the small smirk on his face, it looked like he'd heard Jamie's comment. She smiled at him. "Little kids."

"Yeah." The officer nodded. "Hang tight. I'll be right back."

Erin moaned and leaned forward against the steering wheel. She'd never get home in time for Pete's call now. And she was going to be in so much trouble once her parents heard about this.

A few minutes later, the officer returned. "Miss Reagan?"

Erin looked up at him. "Yes, sir?" She tried her best to look repentant.

"I noticed the car is registered to Frank Reagan? You related to him and Henry Reagan?"

"Yes, my father is Frank Reagan, and Henry Reagan is my grandfather."

"Daddy is a detective and Grandpa is the Chief of Police," Jamie quickly added.

 _As if the officer didn't already know that_ , Erin thought.

But Jamie wasn't through volunteering information. "And Daddy told Danny and Erin that if they get in trouble, they shouldn't use his name or Grandpa's name to get out of trouble, because if they get into trouble on their own, they should get out of it on their own."

"Jamie!" Erin hissed at her brother.

"Is that so?" the officer stated. "Well, in that case, I'd better write up this ticket. Wouldn't want to go against what your father taught you, would I?" He finished writing the ticket and handed it to Erin for her signature.

Erin took one look at the amount of the fine and whimpered. Suddenly, she knew where any money she earned this summer would be going. She needed to find a better-paying job; babysitting wasn't going to cover this ticket. Maybe there was a real restaurant somewhere that would hire a sixteen-year-old as a waitress.

* * *

 _Next: Boyfriends, dented cars and baseballs..._


	4. Chapter 4 - It was an Accident

**Chapter 4 – It was an Accident**

"You see, Eddie, I only got that ticket because of Jamie. Him and his big mouth," Erin told Eddie.

"Oh, you were _so_ getting a ticket no matter what I said. Fifty in a twenty," Jamie argued back.

Henry nodded. "I'm with Jamie on this one, Erin. At thirty miles over, nothing was going to save you from a ticket. Not even playing the name card. Francis, I'm surprised you let her keep driving after that."

"Yeah, Dad, remind me again why you didn't take away her driving privileges?" Danny asked.

Erin glared at her brother. "Danny, they did, for two weeks. Remember? You had to drive us everywhere."

"Not you, Erin; just Jamie and Joe. You got rides with your boyfriend in his fancy new pickup truck that only seated two."

"And that's why Erin's suspension was temporary. The ones being punished the most were the two who couldn't drive," Frank commented.

"Yeah, because we had to ride with you, Dan," Jamie teased, in case Danny hadn't picked up on the jibe.

"Hey, I might have been a bad driver, but at least I never damaged the car and made my kid brother lie about it. Isn't that right, Erin?" Danny asked.

"'Might have been'?" Jamie teased. "How about 'might still be'?"

"It was only a little dent…" Erin began to argue.

"Yeah, that's what you told me," Jamie argued. "But it wasn't."

"And I didn't make Jamie lie. I only suggested that he should," Erin finished.

"Oh, are you talking about when you dented Grandpa's car on purpose?" Nicki asked her mother as she joined the family in the dining room. She put the stack of plates she was carrying on the table next to the pizzas. "I never did hear that story."

"And you're not going to hear it now," Erin insisted.

"C'mon Erin, she's old enough to know to not do what you did. Right, Nik?" Jamie asked his niece.

"I promise, Mom. I won't dent your car."

Henry smirked. "They do say confession is good for the soul, Erin."

"Okay. Fine. But it was just a little dent…"

==BB==BB==

Erin Reagan carefully parked her parent's car in front of the Mancini house. She'd carefully obeyed the speed limit all the way over, as she had every time she'd driven in the week since her driving privileges had been reinstated by her parents. They had made it very clear that one more speeding incident would result in her losing all access to the family's cars. On the down side, with Danny involved with spring sports most afternoons, she'd also had to resume her duties as the primary taxi driver for her youngest sibling.

Which is what she was doing here this evening. Picking Jamie up from his friend Leo Mancini's house after he's spent the afternoon playing with the other boy. Erin walked up to the front door and rang the bell.

Leo's fourteen-year old sister, Antonia, answered. "Hi, Erin."

"Hi, Toni," Erin replied. "I'm here to pick up Jamie."

"Oh, sure," Toni replied. "But, um, there's something Terri wanted to tell you first. I'll go get her."

Erin frowned. Theresa was ten. What could a ten-year-old tell her that she'd care about? She followed Toni to the back door.

"Oh, will you look at that. Terri's at it again," Toni moaned.

Erin looked outside. Terri was standing ten feet away from a tree, aiming a garden hose at the ladder leading up to the tree house. And standing in the tree house were Jamie and his friend Leo Mancini.

Jamie spotted Erin. "Erin! Hi, Erin. We can't come down right now," he yelled to her. "Terri won't let us."

"Because you wouldn't let me come up and play, just because I'm a girl" Theresa yelled back. "And my name isn't Terri. It's Theresa!" She squeezed the trigger on the hose nozzle, spraying water at both boys before they ducked out of reach behind the tree house wall.

"Terri, put down the hose and come over here," Toni called to her younger sister.

"Why?"

"Terri, because it's not nice to soak guests with the hose, and it's Leo's day to play in the tree house with his friend, and Erin Reagan's here," Toni argued.

"Theresa! Not Terri," the younger girl yelled again. She looked behind her to confirm her sister's statement, then reluctantly dropped the hose and walked over to the older girls. "Hello, Erin and Antonia."

"Hello, Theresa."

"Terr, what did you want to tell Erin?" Toni prompted her sister.

"The-re-sa!"

Toni looked at Erin. "The-re-sa hates nicknames," she explained, pronouncing every syllable carefully. "Theresa, tell Erin what you heard."

Theresa glared at her sister. "I have this friend, Misty, who has a big sister Tiffany, who's fifteen or sixteen," Theresa began. "Yesterday, Misty heard Tiffany tell someone that she has a new boyfriend named Pete who plays baseball for school."

Erin felt her heart skip a beat. "So?" She tried to keep her voice calm.

"Misty told me that Tiffany also said that Pete already had a girlfriend, but he was going to break up with her soon. I thought you should know, since there's only one Pete on the baseball team and you're his girlfriend."

"I bet it's someone else, Erin. Maybe someone from some other school. There's lots of boys named Peter," Toni said when Erin didn't say anything.

"You should dump Pete. He's stupid," Theresa advised.

Erin nodded as her thoughts raced. Pete wouldn't cheat on her. Theresa had her story messed up. It was stuff the child had heard from someone who'd overheard it from Tiff. There was a word for that. Hearsay. It wasn't true. But what if it was? "I… I need to go. Jamie, grab your stuff," she called to her brother, who had just joined them inside. "Toni, tell your mom thanks for having Jamie over. I've got to go."

Jamie picked up his backpack and jacket from beside the door. "Bye, Leo. See you tomorrow," he called as Erin grabbed his arm and pulled him out the door. "Geez, you're in a hurry," he grumbled to his sister.

"Get in." Erin pushed him toward the car, then ran around to the driver's side. What Theresa had said couldn't be true. It was just rumors Theresa had heard from her friend. But just in case, she'd stop by the school. Pete had a baseball game that should be close to finishing up. She'd stop by and ask him directly what was going on.

"Erin? You're going fast again," Jamie warned. "And you missed the turn to go home."

Erin slowed down. "We're going by the school first. I need to talk to Pete about something." He couldn't be breaking up with her. She'd been a good girlfriend, spending as much time as possible with him, rearranging her schedule to attend his practices and games, shoving off family taxi duty onto her brother, letting Pete kiss her and touch her and do whatever he wanted to her. Well, almost whatever. They hadn't gone all the way yet. Maybe that's why he was dating Tiff now. She swiped at angry tears.

If Pete was dating Tiffany, maybe he'd already broken up with her, and she just hadn't noticed. Now that she thought about it, Pete had been harder to reach lately. He didn't return her calls very quickly, and he hardly ever had time to hang out after practice anymore. He'd claimed he was just busy with the end of his senior year, and that she'd understand when she was a senior. But it looked like there was something else – or some _one_ else – he was doing. That jerk! It wasn't senior year stuff keeping him busy, it was his new girlfriend. How could she have been so stupid to not notice what was happening!

A few minutes later, Erin swung the car into a parking place near the baseball diamond at their school. She jumped out of the car, slamming the door behind her and stalked across the grass to the ball field.

"Erin! Wait up!" Jamie called from behind her.

Erin came to an abrupt stop, but not in response to Jamie's request. In front of her, Pete was leaning against the chain-link fence backstop. And Tiffany Carson was leaning against Pete, not an inch of space between their bodies; his arms wrapped around her back and hers wrapped around his neck; their lips pressed together.

And suddenly, she couldn't breathe. Everything Terri Mancini said was true! "Pete!"

Pete suddenly stood up, pushing Tiffany away. "Erin! Why are you here?"

 _As if that was important!_ "What are you doing?" she screamed at Pete.

"Erin, chill. It's not like you're interested in me anyway."

"How can you say that?" Erin choked out.

"Come on. You don't come to my practices anymore and you missed my game today. It's my fourth to last baseball game ever, and you missed it."

"Because I have to help out with my brothers. You know that."

"Yeah, and I really don't care." He pulled Tiffany close to him. "Your family issues are your problem. I just want a girlfriend who has time for me."

Erin balled her hands into fists, barely restraining the impulse to sock that smug smile right off his face. Instead, she cursed at both of them, then turned around and ran for the car, hoping to get there before anyone noticed she was crying, leaving her shocked little brother behind.

Jamie glanced at his sister's retreating form. She'd just used a bunch of words Mommy and Daddy said to never use! Jamie glared over at Pete and Tiffany. He didn't know exactly what had happened, but Pete had done something to upset his big sister. "You're a big ugly booger, and I don't like you," he told the older boy. "Don't like you, either," he told Tiffany before turning to run after his sister. "Erin! Erin, wait for me!"

By the time he got to the car, Erin had already started the engine. Jamie quickly buckled himself in. Erin drove too fast even when she wasn't upset.

"You all set?" Erin asked.

"Yep," Jamie replied. "And I think Pete's a big ugly booger."

"He is," Erin grumbled. A big ugly booger who had humiliated her in front of the entire baseball team and who knew how many of her friends. She looked into the rear view mirror to check traffic and saw Pete's truck parked behind her. The hurt at Pete's betrayal quickly turned back to anger. How dare Pete play her for a fool like that! She'd let him push her down onto the seat of that damn truck and kiss her and feel her up, and he'd probably done the same things – or more – with Tiff on that same seat! Well, not anymore! She was done with that arrogant, two-timing, lying freak! She slammed her foot down on the accelerator, sending the car shooting backward right into the back bumper of Pete's truck.

The sudden deceleration threw Jamie back against the seat. He looked behind him in shock. "Erin! You hit Pete's truck!"

Erin put the car into drive and quickly accelerated away from the scene. Oh, god. What had she done? Why hadn't she thought for a second before she'd acted? She really was as irresponsible and reckless as her mother claimed. She'd committed a crime, and with a witness – her little brother – in the car! She was going to be in so much trouble. Unless she could convince Jamie he hadn't seen what he had. "It was an accident. I didn't mean to hit it."

"Yes you did!" Jamie insisted. "You hit it on purpose!"

"It was an accident," Erin retorted. "I didn't mean to hit it." _At least, not that hard_ , Erin thought to herself. She had to convince Jamie it was an accident, or her parents were for sure going to take away her driving privileges. And now she didn't even have a boyfriend to drive her places; she'd be dependent on Danny or her parents. She tried to think of how she could convince Jamie to buy her version of events. Maybe she could bribe him somehow…

 _To be continued…_


	5. Chapter 5 - It was a Baseball

**Chapter 5 – It was a Baseball**

Maybe she could bribe him somehow…

Just as Erin had that thought, she saw Jamie's favorite ice cream stop coming up. Ice cream might work! She pulled the car into the parking lot and found a space out of sight toward the back of the lot. "Stay here," she ordered her brother, before running inside the building. She returned a few minutes later with a large deluxe milkshake, complete with whipped topping and sprinkles. "Here. All for you."

Jamie took the treat from his sister. Ice cream! And Erin had even remembered his favorite flavor! "Thanks! But aren't I going to ruin dinner?"

"No, Jamie. A milkshake is a drink, not a food, so it's fine." Erin turned in her seat to face here brother as he dug into his treat. "So, I looked at the car when I got out, and it's not that bad. It's just a little dent," she told her brother. Actually, it was a pretty big dent, but Jamie didn't need to know that right now. "I doubt Mom and Dad will even notice it, but if they do, you have to tell them it was an accident."

Jamie licked ice cream off the straw. "Why? You did it on purpose."

"No, 'on purpose' means you meant to do something. That you planned to do it," Erin argued. "This was an accident. I didn't mean to do it. I backed up too fast, and his truck was in the way."

Jamie scooped up some more ice cream with the straw. "Felt like you did it on purpose."

"No I didn't. I didn't plan to hit the truck. I didn't even know it was there."

"Yes you did. You looked in that middle mirror before you backed up."

"I didn't know the truck was that close. Stuff looks farther away than it really is in that mirror. You'll understand once you learn how to drive," Erin adjusted her argument. She almost believed it herself now. "It was an accident."

Jamie frowned. He wished he were older and knew how to drive, so he'd know if what Erin said about the mirror was true.

Erin looked at her little brother. He didn't look like he was entirely convinced. Maybe she needed to try a different tactic. "Also, Jamie, you know how mad Mom and Dad were about the ticket. If they think I caused an accident on top of that, I'll lose my driving privileges. And do you know what that will mean?"

"You won't be able to drive?"

"That's right. I won't be able to drive. So we'll all have to ride everywhere with Danny. That is, if he has time to drive you around where you need to go. You know how busy he is with his sports and stuff. You probably wouldn't be able to go over to Leo's very often."

"I could ride the school bus to Leo's house, like I usually do," Jamie argued around a slurp of milkshake.

"But how would you get home?"

"Oh. Yeah." Jamie thought about what Erin was saying. Maybe she hadn't meant to hit Pete's car, and she said the dent wasn't too bad. And Leo really needed a friend. Leo was new to the school, and he had three sisters but no brothers, and no father right now, since Mr. Mancini was off on a Navy ship somewhere in the ocean.

"You know Mom and Dad probably won't even notice anything happened. But so they don't get mad, if they do notice the dent, we'll tell them an errant baseball hit the car. Then it won't be anyone's fault."

"An errand baseball?" Jamie asked.

"A baseball that went somewhere it wasn't supposed to after the batter hit it," Erin explained, not picking up her brother's mispronunciation of the word she'd also mispronounced. "A stray ball. Can you tell Mom and Dad that for me?"

"Isn't that lying?"

"Not really. It was still an accident; we're just changing what kind of accident. And they probably won't even ask. Besides, I bought you ice cream, and you want to be able to visit Leo, right?"

"I guess." Jamie sucked down the last bit of milkshake.

"It'll be fine. So tell me what you'll say if Mom or Dad asks."

"An errand baseball hit the car. It wasn't Erin driving bad," Jamie said.

"No, leave that last part off. 'It was an errant baseball.' That's all you have to say," Erin corrected. "I'll do the rest, okay?"

"Okay," Jamie agreed. He could do this. _It was an errand baseball._

"Good. Then let's get home. Mom probably has dinner ready by now." Erin started up the car.

 _Dinner…_ Jamie put a hand on his full tummy. How was he going to find room in there for dinner?

==BB==BB==

"On the subject of dinner, let's get this pizza served. I'm hungry," Danny interrupted. He threw a slice of his brother's favorite on a plate and placed it in front of Jamie. "For you. Unless you're still full from that night."

"Funny, Danny," Jamie remarked.

"Wait, what happened?" Eddie asked. "How did you guys figure it out? Or did you?"

"Oh, we figured it out. Despite Lawyer Erin's best efforts at preparing her client, Jamie completely fell apart when Dad started questioning him."

"All that preparation and the money for the milkshake for nothing," Erin lamented.

"Hey, it was a really weak story to start with," Jamie argued, "and besides, you totally abandoned me."

Eddie looked from her boyfriend to his sister. "Okay, now I'm really curious. What happened?"

"Let me fill you in," Danny jumped in. "Erin can't tell you, because, like Jamie said, she wasn't there. It was a half-hour later, at dinner…"

==BB==BB==

"Amen," the Reagan family chorused as Frank concluded the blessing.

Joe looked around the table and at the empty chair usually occupied by his sister. "Mom, where's Erin?"

"She's up in her room. She asked for some time alone," Mary replied. "Something happened after school with Pete."

"He's a big ugly booger," Jamie volunteered.

"Jamie, that's not the kind of language we use at this table," Mary admonished her son.

"But he is. He got a new girlfriend and he didn't tell Erin until after Leo's sister Terri told her that her friend Misty heard her sister talk about it."

"Is that so?" Frank asked. He didn't even try to figure out the second half of Jamie sentence.

Danny nudged Joe under the table, and Joe nodded in response. If that was the truth, Pete was going to be facing some severe Reagan consequences. Nobody treated their sister like that.

"Uh-huh. We went by the school after Erin picked me up at Leo's, and we saw him with the new girl. Kissing and everything," Jamie finished with a grimace. Why would anyone want to do that? He'd never want to, especially if they were like that bossy The-re-sa Mancini.

"Well, that explains why Erin's upset," Mary remarked. "I'll go talk to her in a few minutes. In the meantime, let's talk about other subjects. Joe, how did track practice go today?"

Joe smiled. "I made the fastest time in the 1500 meter run and the 400 meter hurdles also."

Jamie quietly sighed in relief. It looks like no one was going to talk about the dented car. That relief lasted through the rest of dinner, which Jamie forced himself to eat even though he wasn't the least bit hungry, and until dessert was served.

Mary placed a slice of chocolate cake in front of her youngest son. "Here you go, Sweetie. Frank, I'm going to take a piece up to Erin and talk to her about this thing with Pete." She headed out of the kitchen.

Jamie looked at the piece of cake sitting in front of him. How was he going to eat that, on top of the big dinner and Erin's milkshake? He didn't have any room left!

Frank stirred his coffee. "So, boys, who wants to tell me about the dent on the car?" he asked his sons.

Jamie's stomach clenched. Dad _had_ noticed the dent, despite Erin's reassurances that it was too small for them to see. Suddenly, keeping dinner down became more of a concern that eating his dessert.

Joe and Danny looked at each other. "What dent, on which car?" Danny finally asked.

"The one on the lower panel of the tailgate on the station wagon," Frank clarified.

"Don't know anything about that," Danny replied. "Erin drove that car last. You should ask her about it. Or Jamie might know."

Jamie squirmed in his seat as all eyes turned to him. He was going have to tell Erin's story, and she wasn't around to back him up. He took a deep breath. _It was an errand ball; it was an errand ball_ , he repeated to himself

Frank looked at his youngest son. "Jamie?"

"It got hit by a baseball. An errand ball." The words he'd practiced with Erin came out easier than Jamie had expected. He shoveled a forkful of cake into his mouth, trying his best to look normal.

"An errand ball?" Frank asked.

"Yeah. You know, a ball that goes somewhere it's not supposed to go," Jamie explained. "A stray ball."

"An errant ball. 'Err-rant', not 'air-and'," Frank corrected, even as he wondered where Jamie had learned that word.

"Oh, okay. An err-ant ball." Jamie filed that fact away. Apparently, there were also ant balls in baseball. Were err-ant balls the only ant balls? Fly balls came in a couple of varieties. And were there any other insect-themed balls he didn't know about? But from the frowny face his father was making, this probably wasn't the right time to ask about baseball terms.

Frank frowned slightly at Jamie's statement. The dent in their car didn't look like it had been made by a baseball, unless that ball had been fired out of a cannon at close range. "And how did this errant ball hit the car?"

Jamie bit his lip and poked at his cake as he thought of how to respond. Erin hadn't told him what to say in response to that question!

"You know, Jamie, if Erin broke the car, you can just say so," Joe encouraged.

"No, it was a baseball," Jamie insisted, but he pointedly avoided looking at his next-older brother. Inspiration suddenly struck. "Pete hit it. He was hitting a home run, and it flew across the field and right into the car." There! That sounded like something that could've happened. And it also got that booger Pete in trouble.

"But, kid, the baseball diamond faces out into the park. If Pete was at bat, the ball wouldn't have gone anywhere near the car," Danny argued.

 _Shoot_. He should've thought of that. "Um, well, he wasn't at bat," Jamie improvised. "He was out in the field."

"With his bat?" Frank questioned.

"Yep," Jamie nodded. "He was in the field hitting balls, and an err-ant one hit the car."

"Well, if he was in the field, wouldn't the backstop have stopped the ball?" Danny asked.

 _Double-shoot_. This lying stuff was harder than it seemed. "Um. Yeah," Jamie stammered, trying to buy time to come up with a good response. "But… it was an err-ant ball that went where it wasn't supposed to, like err-ant balls do. It went by the backstop and, _bang_ , right into the back of the car."

Frank tried to keep back a smile. It was obvious some part of Jamie's ever-evolving story was not true, but the boy could think on his feet. He'd managed to bring his story right back around to the lie he'd started with.

Danny snickered. "Was this before or after Erin caught Pete with that other girl?"

"Um. Before, because we left right after that and came straight home. We didn't stop for ice cream or anything," Jamie blurted out.

And suddenly, Jamie's lack of enthusiasm for one of his favorite dinners and desserts made sense. Frank decided this had gone on long enough. With every word, Jamie was digging himself deeper into a hole, and he knew exactly who'd put his son in that hole to start with. "Jamie, what would you say if I told you we knew this story wasn't true?"

Jamie felt his stomach flip again and looked down at the table to avoid his father's and brothers' gazes. Caught lying to his father! He was in so much trouble. He pushed the cake away before it made him sick. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.

Frank sighed. So, Jamie _had_ been lying all along. "First of all, was anybody hurt?"

Jamie shook his head. "No, sir."

"Son, you need to tell me what really happened. The truth this time."

"Frank, I think Erin should be the one to tell us that," Mary replied as she re-entered the kitchen with a teary-eyed Erin following behind her.

==BB==BB==

"You see, Ed? It was a ridiculously weak story at odds with the facts. I didn't stand a chance," Jamie argued. "Not against an NYPD detective and two wanna-be detectives; not all by myself."

"It was a perfectly good story that you didn't tell right," Erin argued back. "You see, this is what happens when you trust an eight-year-old lie for you. Nothing good. After that, I told my own lies and let Jamie tell his own."

All eyes in the room went to Jamie. "Kid, what lies did you tell the parents?" Danny asked.

"Nothin' I'm telling you," Jamie retorted.

Frank looked at his children. "You know I probably already know. I know everything."

Danny turned to his sister. "Erin, what lies did he tell Mom and Dad?"

"I'm not telling you, Danny. Like I told Jamie, I've got a lot of ammunition on him. I'm saving it until I really need it." Erin crossed her arms across her chest. "Let's just say Jamie wasn't always the perfect driver you think he is."

* * *

 _Next up: Driving with_ _Jamie..._


	6. Chapter 6 - Driving with Jamie

**Chapter 6 – Driving with Jamie**

 _Author note: Belated thanks to Lawslave for her help with the this story (and for suggesting writing the 'Jamie driving' story for the ending)!_

* * *

Eddie looked at her boyfriend, then back to Erin. "What? This guy actually broke a traffic law? Did he wreck the car? Or, no… did he get a speeding ticket?" she asked incredulously. "I gotta hear this."

"No, it wasn't a speeding ticket. It was the opposite," Erin explained.

"And it wasn't a ticket, just a warning," Jamie tried to explain.

"Jamie, how did you get cited for driving too slowly?"

"Ask Erin," Jamie muttered crossly.

"No way. I'm keeping this story for when I need some leverage on you, little brother," Erin shot back.

"He started by stealing the car and driving it beyond the boundaries his mother and I had set for him."

All three Reagan siblings turned toward their father. "You knew?" Erin and Jamie asked almost simultaneously.

"Well, you got pulled over by the State Patrol just a few miles outside the city border. Word got back to me."

Erin sighed. "I may as well tell the story then."

"No, you don't need to," Jamie protested, at the same time Danny and Eddie chimed in in support of Erin telling tales on her little brother.

"Sorry, little brother. You got outvoted," Erin teased. "It started with an e-mail I unintentionally received from Jamie one afternoon in August, right before his senior year of high school…"

==BB==BB==

 _"_ _To: Big Brother; Big Sister_

 _From: Jamie_

 _Joe, I told Mom you needed the station wagon for the next few days to help one of your friends move stuff. If she asks, please say you have it. I'll explain later and I'll owe you forever! Thanks, Jamie."_

Erin re-read the e-mail again. Clearly, Jamie hadn't intended to send it to her, but what was her seventeen-year old brother up to?

She thought back to the last time she'd seen Jamie, at Sunday dinner a few days before. Jamie had been so excited about a trip he and his girlfriend Katie Dolan and several other of their friends had planned for that week. His friend, Nate Ellison, had invited the group to spend a few days out at the Ellison's beach house in Quogue for one last celebration before they started their senior year of high school. They were supposed to leave today, Erin recalled. Nate's mother was going to drive them out there this morning and chaperone from the guest cottage while the teens stayed in the main house and spent the day on Thursday and Friday morning on the beach, before she drove them back Friday afternoon. Had something changed with that plan?

Erin knew who would have an answer. She picked up the phone book, quickly looked up a number and dialed.

"H'lo?" a young male voice rasped.

"Nate? Is that you?" Erin asked. Nate wasn't the Ellison she'd hoped to speak to, but he might do. And his voice gave her some idea about what had happened. "It's Erin Reagan. You sound terrible!"

"Yeah," he responded. "Strep."

"I was sorry to hear you got sick right before your trip," Erin improvised. "I know how much you all were looking forward to it."

Nate made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a cough. "Yeah. 'specially Jamie."

"Oh?"

"He had big plans with Katie," Nate rasped, then choked/laughed again. "Probably why he volunteered to drive the gang out there when Mom insisted that they go without us."

Erin almost dropped the phone at the revelations Nate had packed into that one sentence. Jamie was driving out to Quogue for a short beach getaway without any adult supervision, in order to fulfill some 'big plans' he had with his girlfriend. Did she even want to know what those plans were?

"Yes, that's good," she finally stammered. "And that's why I called. I wanted to thank you for letting them use your beach place even though you couldn't go."

"Damn, you're the coolest big sister ever," Nate hacked out. "My sister would have flipped out if I told her I was taking my girlfriend to the beach house to do …"

"Stop!" Erin snapped. "I've got to go, okay. Bye!" She quickly hung up the phone, and wiped her hands on her pants. Eww! Of all the topics she didn't want to talk about, that had to top the list! Her baby brother wasn't old enough to… Eww!

But she had learned some interesting things about her seemingly perfect younger brother. He'd lied to their mother, stolen the family car and was driving it places he wasn't allowed to, in order to have se… _Oh, ugh. Not going there_ … to make out with his girlfriend. Not so perfect, was he? She wondered what he would do to keep this little trip secret.

==BB==BB==

"Oh! So you and this girl?" Eddie asked. "The beach?"

"No!" Jamie exclaimed. "Nothing happened with Katie. And I'm not discussing that anymore."

"Way to go, tiger," Danny teased his brother.

"Dan, _nothing_ happened. Can we just leave it at that?" Jamie begged. He cut his eyes toward his new girlfriend.

Danny grabbed his brother's shoulder. "Okay. 'Nothing' happened. Except your secret drive to the beach wasn't so secret. Erin knew before you even left town!"

"So when did Jamie get this ticket?" Eddie asked. "And how did you find out about it, Erin?"

Erin smiled over at her brother. "I found out about it because Jamie and his friends ran out of gas – and money – on the way home. Joe called me…"

==BB==BB==

"Hello," Erin Reagan greeted the caller to her phone.

"Hey, Erin, my favorite sister. It's Joe. You free this afternoon?"

"Why?" Actually, she was free this Friday afternoon, but Joe sounded like he wanted a favor, and as a rising third-year law student and mother of a toddler, she had to make the most of what little free time she had.

"If you're available, I need you to do me… well, Jamie… a really big favor."

"Does baby brother need a condom? Or maybe a pregnancy test for Katie?" Erin snarked. The more she'd thought about Jamie's unauthorized beach getaway and his plans with his girlfriend, the more pissed off she'd become.

"Oh, you heard about his plans," Joe muttered. "Listen…"

"No, you listen. You knew? And you were okay with our baby brother stealing Mom and Dad's car to go have sex with some girl?"

"Erin, chill, okay? I knew, I told him he should wait a while, but you know Jame, he's going to do what he wants. And it's not 'some girl,' it's Katie. They've been together forever," Joe argued. "And, FYI, his plans didn't work out and he's kind of bummed out about it."

"Oh." Erin tried to think of an response that didn't make her sound like she relished her brother's misery.

"And he's even more bummed because they got halfway home and ran out of gasoline and don't have money to buy more. They need one of us to drive out there and help them out. I'd do it, but I'm at work right now," Joe explained. "They're only an hour out of the city."

"And an hour back. That's a big chunk of my afternoon."

"Please, Erin. It's not that far. Drive out there, buy the kid a tank of gas, and drive back," Joe begged.

Erin sighed. "Does he know that I know about this little trip of his?"

"Yes. I told him you got that e-mail he sent to me. But, Sis, don't tell Mom and Dad, okay? Let's give him a chance to 'fess up first."

"Fine. I'll do it. And I won't tell." Of course she wouldn't tell. Telling her parents would destroy any leverage she had over her goody-two-shoes little brothers.

==BB==BB==

"So I packed Nicki in Jack's car, drove out to meet Jamie and his friends, and bought them a tank of gas. I was putting the receipt in the glove box when I saw the ticket…"

"Warning. Not ticket," Jamie interrupted.

"… the 'warning' Jamie got. For driving forty in a sixty zone," Erin finished.

Eddie snickered. "Forty in a sixty?"

"It was my first experience driving on the interstate without supervision, okay?" Jamie argued.

"And driving in a stolen car no less," Danny added."

"Which is why I was being careful to avoid the police. Or so I thought."

"Jamie, you have to tell me about this," Eddie insisted.

==BB==BB==

Jamie Reagan checked the rear-view mirror one last time. Joe had been the last one to drive this car, and the seats and mirrors had been adjusted for his taller frame. He still didn't have the mirror in the exact right location for his use. "Everyone ready? Seat belts on?" He glanced over at his girlfriend in the front passenger seat. She'd buckled herself in. His eyes followed the seat belt from the latch upward across her body.

"Eyes on the road, Jamie," Katie whispered. "At least until we get to the beach."

"Right." Jamie shook his head and quickly turned his attention to his rear-seat passengers, hoping none of them had noticed him checking out his girlfriend.

"Yes, _Mommy_ ," his friend Eric teased from the seat behind him. "Michelle and I are all strapped in. And we packed the sunblock also."

"Me too. And, are we there yet?" Robert called from the third row seat he had all to himself.

"We're rolling," Jamie called back as he pulled away from the curb. He was going to be the most careful driver ever all the way out to the beach. He had to get his friends to Quogue safely, and without getting stopped by law enforcement.

Because if they did get stopped, he was going to be in a world of trouble. And that was not a place he visited very often. He thought through his plan again, trying to find any holes that would trip him up. Or was he making a mental list of his transgressions? He'd lied to his mother; told her he was driving the station wagon up to Joe's, since Joe needed to borrow it for a few days to help out a friend, and that Eric's mother was going to pick him up at Joe's for the drive to Quogue. He'd sent an e-mail to Joe, asking his older brother to lie for him if their parents asked about the car. That had been a last-minute addition to the plan after he realized it would all fall apart if Mom or Dad talked to Joe. And then he'd stolen the car. Well, not really stolen. Borrowed it without permission and with the intention of driving it places he wasn't allowed to drive. Dumped his stuff in the back and driven it off under false pretenses to Eric's house, where the rest of the group was gathering. Yep, if he got caught, he was in more trouble than he'd ever been in before. He'd just have to be extra careful to follow the rules.

An hour and a half later, Jamie's careful obedience to the traffic rules was driving his friends crazy. "Jamie, are we there yet?" Robert repeated his question. "I gotta go!"

Katie checked the map. "We're about halfway there," she told her friends.

"We're an hour and a half into what should be a two hour drive, and we're only halfway there!" Robert protested again. "Come on, Jamie, step on the gas!"

"I'll find a shrub for you to do your business behind. How's that?" Jamie teased.

"Uh. Jamie, look behind you," Robert suddenly warned. "A cop!"

Jamie glanced in the rear-view mirror. Robert was right! A state patrol vehicle was close behind them, its lights flashing. "Oh, great." He pulled over to the side of the road, trying to figure out what he had done wrong. He'd been so careful to stay under the speed limit, even as ever other car sped by him!

The state patrol officer knocked on the window, and Jamie quickly rolled it down. "Hello, Officer."

"Hello, Mr. Reagan."

Jamie's heart sank. The officer had already run the plates, and knew who the car belonged to. "It's just Jamie," he said quietly.

"Jamie. Do you know why I stopped you today?"

"No, Sir," Jamie shook his head. There was a whole list of possibilities, car theft being at the top of the list, but he wasn't going to volunteer that information.

"You were going twenty miles below the speed limit. Five miles below the posted minimum."

"Oh." Damn. He'd been so focused on driving carefully and not exceeding the speed limit, he'd forgotten about the minimum speed.

"Everything okay? No substance use or mechanical issues?"

Jamie nodded. "Yes, Sir. Everything's okay. I just didn't want to wreck my parents' car, after they trusted me to drive my friends to the beach in it," Jamie lied. He added 'lying to law enforcement' to his mental list of transgressions.

The officer ripped a slip of paper out of his ticket book. "Listen, you seem like a good kid, and I'm not seeing anything that makes me suspicious, so I'm only going to give you a warning. But remember to watch your speed. Keep it at the minimum at least, okay?"

"Yes, Sir," Jamie agreed as he took the citation from the officer. God, if his parents found out about this, he was in so much trouble…

==BB==BB==

"That citation – and a little detective work – was how I found out where my car and my youngest son were that day," Frank informed his family.

"Dad, if you knew, why didn't you punish him?" Erin asked.

Jamie snorted. "Who says he didn't?"

Frank smiled at Jamie's reaction. "One, any punishment wasn't your business, and two, he'd punished himself enough."

"Don't do the crime if you can't do the time," Jamie added. "I ruined the whole trip worrying over how Mom and Dad were going to react when we got home. All over a warning for driving too slowly."

"Forty in a sixty," Eddie shook her head. "You really do drive like my grandmother."

"And you really do drive like Danny when he was fourteen," Jamie shot back.

"Hey, I did a fine job of driving that day," Danny argued.

"Did _not_."

"Jamie, did you tell me about that?" Eddie asked. "I think I remember hearing something about that."

"Well, I'm sure you didn't get the full story, if you heard it from Jamie," Danny joked as he sat down at the table. "Let me tell you what really happened. "It all started one spring day, when I was home alone with that one," Danny gestured toward Jamie, "and Joe…"

* * *

 _For the rest of Danny's story, see my story, 'Driving with Danny', also available on this website. :)_


End file.
